On 10 March 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) annulled on appeal a series of European Commission decisions requiring several cement manufacturers to supply information within the context of a cartel probe in the cement sector (the “Contested Decisions”). The ECJ held that the Commission’s Contested Decisions were not adequately reasoned (Case C-268/14 and others, Italmobiliare SpA and others v. European Commission).
In 2008/2009, the Commission carried out inspections at the premises of cement manufacturers after it had opened an investigation of its own accord, without having been informed of alleged practices by a leniency